I don't think Rudy is that hard to build around, we just did a piss-poor job of it. We could have gone after a player like Brogdon, or even CP3 given the timing, instead of Conley, for one. We could have gone after a player like Grant instead of Gay, for another. We could have drafted any one of a number of solid perimeter defenders and 3&D guys instead of Doke. I mean there are a hundred things this FO could have done differently that they just didn't do. Add a single better perimeter defender to this starting 5 in place of Conley, or even Royce, or hell even Bojan, and we are likely much further ahead. But to say you cannot build around a good rim protector flies in the face of what Phoenix did. Ayton is a solid rim protector and rebounder, and limited offensively. But look at the team they have built. Granted Ayton doesn't take up the money Gobert does, but he also doesn't have the sheer defensive, and offensive for that matter, gravity about him, but they still were able to put better pieces around him and so they are the tops in the league right now. Not to mention the internal growth of their key players in playing better D, such as Booker. We could have been Phoenix. That is the part that is so galling.